Coop's Best Christmas Gift
by Yankee01754
Summary: I had a request, after posting Cooper Smith's nightmare, for a story based on The Richard Bloodgood Story. I wanted to do a Christmas story. I have combined the two ideas. The restoration of his friendship with Charlie Wooster is his best gift.


Coop's Best Christmas Gift

A Cooper Smith Wagon Train Story

By Yankee 01754

Cooper Smith was exhausted, cold, hungry and anxious to get home for Christmas. He could almost smell his mother's cooking and baking even at ten miles away. The air was cold and still. There was a foot or so of snow on the ground so he rode Gambler very carefully letting the tired horse pick his own pace and choose his own path.

As they traveled he thought of his childhood in that small Texas town in the panhandle. Most of it had been good. He, and his brother Jeff, had grown up in a large extended family of parents, aunts, uncles and cousins. They'd had a few good friends. He still got melancholy when he thought of Jeff. Just a kid when he died. One fateful night, he was put on guard duty. He was supposed to be guarding Sandra Cummings - a Union Spy. She used her feminine wiles on him to ensure her release. Jeff was court martialed and executed on charges of treason. Coop was finally able to accept that his brother was wrong but it was a long time coming and he still missed that little imp that used to follow him around. He especially missed him at Christmastime.

His thoughts turned to other childhood and teenage friends. Some living. Others dead in the war. One recently dead and he'd been there when he died - accidentally - by his own hand.

It was now December twentieth. He'd been on the trail, scouting for the wagon train led by Chris Hale for two years now. They'd had their ups and downs as far as trips were concerned. This one had been heartbreaking for Coop. An old friend, turned bitter enemy, had joined the train with plans to kill Coop for something that had been a tragic accident.

An hour later the old homestead came into view and Coop headed directly for the barn where he quickly unsaddled Gambler, brushed him down and gave him some hay and water. Normally he wouldn't have put a blanket on the sorrel but it was a very cold night and they'd traveled a long way. Better to make sure the faithful animal was comfortable and covered against the chill.

He picked up his saddlebags and headed for the house. He knew exactly where he'd find his mother even if nobody else was home.

Brianna Smith hummed as she tended the fire in the big main room of the house on the Texas panhandle. It was Christmastime. Her whole family would be together once her son Cooper arrived. He'd wired, from Sacramento that he was on his way. His job, as scout for Chris Hale's wagon train, had ended for the season. He'd be home in time for Christmas.

She could see him in her mind's eye. Not quite as tall as his father, Daniel, who was six feet one inch. Only five feet eleven but well built. Dark curly hair like his pa's. Twinkling blue eyes like his grandmother Harper. Deep voice that was somewhat gravelly. He'd be wearing dark pants, a light colored shirt - or maybe the red one - and a brown vest topped off by a cream colored Stetson. In this cold weather he'd have a sheepskin jacket on - one that he'd been given last year by his grandparents. He'd enter the house quietly and he'd try to sneak up on her. He'd always been light on his feet and scouting for the wagon train had made him consciously light on his feet, but she'd know. She always knew

Ten minutes later, as she returned to the kitchen where she was preparing the pies for Christmas Day, she heard the front door quietly open and shut.

"Cooper Smith you get right on out here to the kitchen and let me see you," she called.

"Yes Ma," came the answer from the doorway.

A moment later, tanned and fit looking with an air of anticipation about him, Coop walked into a kitchen that smelled of apples, mincemeat, and spices as well as woodsmoke from the stove and other sweet goodies.

"Mmm. Something sure smells good," he said as he walked into the warm, fragrant kitchen.

"Oh, Cooper, it's so good to have you home again," Brianna said as she hugged her son. He gravitated toward the stove when she released him and held his hands out to warm them. "Come sit down. Have some coffee and some of the sugar cookies," she said as she put both in front of him when he had seated himself at one end of the table.

"Tell me about your summer. Did the wagon train run into any trouble?"

"No, not really. We managed to dodge the Comanches and the Arapaho. The Sioux gave us a little trouble but not much and we were able to satisfy the Cheyenne by doing a little trading with them."

"If that's all that happened, why do you look so sad?" Brianna asked. "I could sense it when you came in and I can see it in your eyes. Talk to me, Coop. Tell me what it is that's troubling you."

Coop gave her a tired smile. He should have known he couldn't fool her.

"Well, it's like this, Ma.."The first week or so went fine. We didn't have any trouble with the Indians and only lost a couple of days due to the weather. It was the third week where things went wrong. This time I was in charge while Chris and Bill were away. We stopped over in a little place called Sweetwater, Kansas to pick up an additional traveler and his wagon."

"He told Charlie his name was Sangria." Here Coop hesitated as he recalled meeting the man who called himself Espada. Dressed in plain workman like clothes he seemed friendly enough but then the flap on the wagon cover was pushed aside. A man dressed in Spanish style clothing stepped out of the interior onto the seat. Coop could scarcely believe his eyes when the other occupant of the wagon, the man calling himself Sangria, turned out to be Richard Bloodgood. At one time Coop's best friend and blood brother now turned bitter enemy. All because of a no good tramp by the name of Janet Rose. A saloon girl who was, in Coop's words, beautiful but as vicious as a rattlesnake. She was a user. A man eater. A woman who would go to any extreme - including lying about being pregnant - to get the attention of a man she'd set her eyes on.

"Do you remember Richard Bloodgood Ma?"

"Richard Bloodgood? The boy you were best friends with? The one who was your blood brother?"

"Yeah. That blood brother thing didn't work out so well." Coop shuddered as he remembered Richard's words to him that fateful day they were reunited. _"You're a dangerous animal. Not to be trusted. Deserve killing."_ Those had been Richard's first words to him followed by him answering Coop's question as to how he knew he was there with a response about how his other senses were combining to make up for the one Cooper Smith, blood brother - one time best friend - had taken from him.

"It's been five years, Ma! Five years since the argument over Janet Rose. Since the day I hit him and he ended up going blind!." Coop's eyes were filled with pain,and remorse.. "I never meant to hit him so hard, Ma! It was an accident. I thought he understood that1"

His mother just reached out, took one of his hands in hers and gave it a squeeze. She kept silent and let him go on with his story.

"That was the first night. I was in charge and I wanted to make sure that the new folks knew the rules and were settled. To see if they needed anything. That night Richard told me the reason he was on the wagon train - to kill me. To make me pay for the loss of his eyesight."

Brianna couldn't stifle a gasp. To think that someone would tell her son - or anyone - that he was there simply to kill them. Unthinkable!

The young man's eyes were unfocused as he remember Richard's accusation and the taunt that, even without his eyesight he knew Coop was there and what he was doing. He'd even known that Coop was fingering his gun.

"I asked him how he knew it was me. He said it seemed that his other senses had combined to make up for the one I took from him."

'Oh, Coop! He didn't!"

"Yeah, he did, Ma. He believed I blinded him on purpose."

"Preposterous! Anybody who truly knows you knows you would never do such a thing.."

"At first I thought he'd brought Espada to kill me but he wanted that pleasure for himself he said." Cooper smiled grimly. "Richard always did have to do things for himself. Killing me wasn't to be left to somebody else. He'd never have been satisfied."

He could still hear Richard's voice in his head. _"No, Coop. I'll kill you - in time." Richard didn't stop there. He went on to say that it wouldn't be in the back. It would be face to face. Eye to eye._

"So what did you do, son?" his mother asked.

"I fingered my gun like I was going to pull it. Richard knew, somehow, what I was doing and told me so. I finally left him and went back to the supply wagon where Charlie was getting supper ready. I sat down for a minute, thinking about Richard and how we'd decided to become blood brothers. I didn't know what Pa would say but we did it anyway." He sighed deeply. "I was not in a good mood and I took it out on Charlie. I snapped at him to leave me alone."

"Oh, Cooper. You didn't! Charlie's one of your best friends - even if he is somewhat older than you. You told me yourself that you and the others are as close as if there were blood ties between you. Barney's been like a little brother to you."

"I know. It gets worse though," her son told her sadly.

The fire in the stove popped and hissed. Brianna got up, briefly, to put more wood in it so that the kitchen would remain warm and friendly. She sat down again and picked up a paring knife and an apple and began to peel, and core, apples for pie.

"The second day I found that eight of the horses from our remuda had escaped. I managed to track six of them down. When I got them back I rode up to the supply wagon and gave Barney the rough side of my tongue. I sent him out to look for the other two and told him not to come back until he found them."

"Cooper Smith! Barney's just a boy - even if he is growing up fast! You should be ashamed of yourself!"

"I am, Ma, and I was. I told Charlie I'd go looking for Barney if he wasn't back by morning. It was real late when he got back so I told him I'd check on the remuda and put his horse up too. Then I sent him to bed. He was so tired he didn't stop to eat." Coop grimaced as he remembered that day and how worried Charlie had been.

Charlie had fussed about Coop's treatment of Barney and how Coop was acting. The younger man had reacted badly, due to the strain he was under of managing the train and dealing with Richard's plans for revenge, and told the older man to shut up. This reaction, along with other behavior on the part of the scout, worried the wagon train cook. Coop was not himself. Charlie was going to investigate somehow.

"We were sitting down to eat, the third day out, when somebody fired a shot that took my hat off. I thought maybe it was Richard's friend or something but it was one of the younger passengers on the train. He was all upset about it. Said his dad would skin him alive if he had hurt me."

Coop looked over at his mother to see how she was taking all this. She was calmly sitting next to him, readying apples for pies. Not a word did she say. Her brown eyes were intent on her work. Her hands steady but he could tell she was listening to every word and letting him tell his story his way.

"I told him his pa would be even more upset when he found out he had to buy me a new Stetson. It was just an accident. He was doing something to the rifle and it accidentally went off. I told him to beat it and told Barney to take him back to his wagon. It wasn't the boy's fault but I was in no mood to listen to explanations."

"Did you apologize later?" Mrs. Harper asked her son.

"Yeah. When things calmed down I did. I didn't mean to be so hard on the kid. I knew he wouldn't deliberately try to scare me or hurt me."

'That's good. It wouldn't be like you _not_ to apologize for losing your temper for no good reason." She smiled at her son and urged him to continue. Brianna knew her son well enough to know that he hadn't even come close to the end of this story. Something was eating at him still. Best to get him talking.

"Go on."

"Well, Barney left with the kid and Charlie started chattering about China Hat. Asking questions about if it was a small town and sayin' how in small towns everyone knows everybody and everything about them." He frowned as he remembered that conversation. Charlie meant well but it wasn't a good topic to bring up at that time.

The situation went from bad to worse. The more Charlie talked about China Hat and what he knew - or thought he knew - about the town the madder Coop had gotten until he finally exploded and told Charlie to quit snooping and mind his own business.

"Not too long after that, when Barney had just returned to our wagon there was the sound of several gunshots. My nerves were pretty well frayed at this point - even more so when I found Espada helping Richard learn to fire a gun at a target he couldn't see just by the sound of the target on the ground and Espada's voice telling him which way to aim and how."

Next day was the fourth day since Bloodgood and Espada had joined the wagon train. While Coop was busy elsewhere and the man who wanted Coop dead was busy practicing with his assistant, Charlie snooped through the wagon.

"I found out later that he found a copy of the China Hat Chronicle with the article about Janet's death. I was looking for something I'd lost and told Charlie if he found it it would probably wind up in his stew. Yeah, I was in a bad mood but we always give Charlie a hard time about his cooking so he didn't really think that much of it."

"Shame on you, Cooper! Charlie looks out for you and the others and you continually give the poor man a hard time. I've a good mind to go with you next year just to help Charlie and keep you all from giving him such a hard time!"

Coop had to grin at that. His mother was formidable for all she was only five feet four. He had no doubt that he, Chris, Bill and Barney would have to toe the mark if she carried through on her threat.

"Charlie and Barney had been talking before I showed up and then suddenly stopped. I wandered off to continue my search. When I wandered back, without them realizing it, I heard Charlie mention Janet's name. That was the last straw. I'd told him to stay out of it and quick poking around in my affairs. I hauled off and backhanded him and ordered him off the train," Coop's voice faded out at this admission. "I told him I never wanted to see his sneaking face around there again."

He shuddered as he remembered the hurt look on Charlie's face as he held a hand up to his mouth where Coop's hand had struck him.

Brianna Smith look at her son in horror. She couldn't believe her ears. Sure, her son was noted for having a short temper at times but to hit a man inches smaller and thirty years older! Her temper flared.

"You ought to be ashamed of yourself! Charlie's always been very fond of you. I'm sure that's why he was checking out what Richard was up to and why he was out to kill you."

'I know, Ma," Coop said. "I know. I was ashamed but, at the time, I couldn't bring myself to say anything. I just wanted him gone from my sight."

"And young Barnaby? How did he take your bad attitude?"

"He was really mad at me. I couldn't talk to him so I went away for a while."

He had gone away all right. When he came back Barney was working on supper. When Coop asked him if there was anything he could do to help Barney had said, "Drop dead!" and proceeded to ream Coop out for acting the way he had when all Charlie had done was say some girl's name.

"I told Barney I was sorry about what I did and he told me to tell Charlie that. He was right - I should have but by that time Charlie was gone and I didn't know where to find him." Coop fiddled nervously with his coffee cup. He deeply regretted what he had done to Charlie and he could tell, by his mother's tone, that she was outraged at his behavior. _She probably wants to take a switch to me for this. I wouldn't blame her if she did. I treated Charlie badly. I had no excuse for what I did or how I acted. I should have told him - and Barney what was going on. I could have used the support."_

"Right after Barney laid into me for it I started for Richard's wagon. I ran into Espada and told him I wanted to talk to him for a minute. He wasn't real friendly but I can't really blame him too much - he only knew Richard's side of the story."

Espada had actually been kind of nasty asking Coop if he was still hanging around, but Cooper had persevered and had his conversation, brief though it was.

"Wichita, Kansas," the man had replied when Coop asked him where he'd met Richard. He'd literally bumped into him four years earlier and started to ask him if he was blind when he suddenly realized he _was_ blind.

"He admitted that Richard had hired him to search for me. They'd looked in city directories and asked a lot of questions. They thought they found me once. They found a James Fenimore Cooper Smith in Nebraska territory. He was named after Pa's favorite author. He was also only four years old."

"Richard knows your name isn't James Fenimore Cooper Smith," Brianna interjected. "Why would he look for you by that name?"

"Just following any lead they could find I guess. My trail was awfully cold by then. They tried anything they could think of," Coop told her. "I guess Richard thought I'd changed my name to throw him off track or something."

"That doesn't make any sense. It's not a big leap from Cooper Smith to James Fenimore Cooper Smith or vice versa. If you didn't know he was looking for you why would you change your name anyway?"

"I don't know, Ma. "Richard wasn't rational at that point. He was obsessed with making me pay for what I did to him - for what happened to Janet."

"So how did they find you after all that time - when they realized that little boy wasn't who they were looking for?"

"Espada told me they found my name in a newspaper."

He grimaced as he remembered that conversation. He'd told Espada that if Richard killed him he'd hang and Espada right along with him."

"I don't think so. I'm like pointer. The dog that flushes the bird," Espada had replied adding that the bird dog only points out the prey and flushes it into the open while another kills it. It didn't make Coop feel any better about the man.

"That night I went to Richard and told him I wanted that plan of his settled, one way or another." He sighed heavily. "It didn't do me any good. Richard said he wasn't ready yet. Espada said he was good enough but Richard wanted to be perfect."

"He taunted me. Tormented me. Said I would sleep but then asked if I would. It was strictly a - what do you call it - rhet, rhetor..."

"Rhetorical question?" his mother finished his sentence for him.

"Yeah. If that means he didn't really expect an answer."

"That's what it means," Brianna said.

"I lost my temper and went for Richard. When Espada tried to stop me I slugged him."

"Did you hurt Richard?"

"No. I only wanted to shake some sense into him. Waste of time. He was going to do what he wanted to do in his own time. I couldn't budge him."

"What a shame. You two were such good friends at one time.:

"Yeah. That all changed with Janet Rose's death and his blindness."

Coop had left Richard and Espada and gone back to the supply wagon where Barney's stew was hanging over the fire. The teenager was nowhere in sight. He'd disappeared as soon as he ate so he wouldn't have to see Coop and listen to his complaints about the food. Coop didn't blame him. He wasn't any better.

"That was the sixth night we were on the trail. It's also the night I got a big surprise," Coop told his mother now smiling some. "Charlie came back. He never told me where he went or how he caught up with us so fast but all of a sudden I looked up and he was standing there."

What Coop told his mother was true. What he didn't say was that he'd lost all appetite and was, after one bite, scraping the stew on his plate back into the kettle he'd gotten it from. Barney's cooking, and his own emotional and psychological distress were almost making him sick. When he saw Charlie he was stunned.

" _I came back. I left - I left something behind me."_

 _It had taken Coop five tries before he could speak. Then he'd said "Wha - What was that Charlie?"_

 _"My heart in fact," the old cook had said. "Anybody seen a old tired heart lyin' around here? It's of no use to anybody but me."_

 _Those words, the smile on Charlie's face and the nod were nearly Coop's undoing. He put down the plate and fork he was holding and covered the short distance between them in about three steps. With a quick hug and a strangled half sob he had said, "You know I've been eatin' Barney's cookin'. I even tried a hand at it myself." With a brave attempt at a smile he added, "You know somethin' Charlie?"_

 _"What's that?" Wooster had asked._

 _"You're probably the greatest cook in the whole wide world."_

 _"Fine, Coop. I'll get right on it." The old cook released Coop from their embrace, patted his side and set to work making a decent meal for himself and his two friends while Coop looked on with a smile on his face and barely restrained tears in his eyes. Everything would be okay now that Charlie was back._

A little later Charlie tried to get more information out of Coop about what was going on. Coop told Charlie he'd never killed for fun and he tried not to kill in anger. Other than that all Coop would say, about Janet Rose, was that he'd told them all he could. While they were talking Espada approached them. Things had come to a head and Coop now had to face Richard. Wooster wanted to know if Coop was going to shoot back. Coop didn't answer but walked off to Richard's wagon which was a mere six wagons away. Charlie and Barney followed right along behind their friend lending moral support if nothing else.

As Coop stood there facing his sightless friend, turned enemy, Richard Bloodgood had reached out his hand to Coop's face. He commented on how he didn't seem to have changed much. His nose was the same as were his chin and his mouth. He stated that Coop's eyes were probably the same shade of blue they were the last time he saw them.

At this point Espada had handed Richard his rifle. Bloodgood took it and backed away a few steps saying _'I'm not going to kill you. This is an execution. I'm punishing you for a murder you committed. What sort of weapon do you carry?"_

Told that it was the same as always Richard Bloodgood told Coop he was releasing him from any bond they may have formed. Coop was permitted to shoot back at him. The last thing Coop wanted was to shoot his former friend and blood brother. It made no difference to the other man. He was bent on avenging the death of Janet Rose and the blinding of himself. Nothing would deter him - not even Coop telling him that when he swears to something he didn't go back on it.

Richard mocked him and told him that the advantage he had was that Coop's colt was good for fifty yards in the dark - probably less - while his Winchester could kill at two hundred yards. His hearing was so acute that he could hear Coop, the other night, as he muttered his - Richard's name - in a dream - softly and sadly. Perhaps remorsefully. Richard wasn't sure.

 _"I know precisely where you are and I intend to kill you," the blind man said before informing Coop that he was going to count ten, slowly, to himself. If Coop ran he should be able to cover quite a distance._

Coop's spirits sank even lower. There was no reasoning with the man. He wasn't able to say anything and was practically in tears as he watched Richard cock the rifle. He gave Espada a look but the man stood by and said nothing.

The thing to do now was to make sure Charlie and Barney stayed away until it was over. He didn't want them caught in the middle of this. Briefly he looked to see if he'd get any help from Espada then he went to his friends and told them to stay put. He didn't want them caught in the middle of the shooting.

His friend watched in horror as Coop started off to find shelter followed a few seconds later by Bloodgood and Espada.

Coop stopped to look back once he reached some bushes. He could see, and hear, his pursuers coming so he continued on.

Richard's first shot hit the boulder Coop was hiding behind so he moved off, quietly, behind a tree. The second shot clipped the trunk of the tree forcing the hunter's quarry to move even further back behind a different tree.

Richard taunted him. "You can't say I'm not being sportsmanlike, Coop! I'm allowing you to dodge behind rocks and trees. That's more of a chance than you gave her!"

Richard fired a third shot as Coop moved out from behind the tree to deny the accusation. It hit Coop in the right shoulder. The young man grimaced, holding his shoulder, and fought to keep from crying out as his former friend fired a few more shots. Taking advantage of the lull in the shooting the wounded man moved from that dubious - and failed - shelter. He found another boulder and slid to the ground leaning against it as Bloodgood called _"I hit you that time, Coop, didn't I?"_

It was at this point that Espada, for reasons known only to himself, grabbed the gun away from his employer and they started arguing. Coop heard something about hate and killing and an open home before Espada raised the rifle like a club and started to swing. Coop couldn't let that happen no matter what Richard Bloodgood's attitude toward him was. He was able to draw his gun and shoot the man in the hand forcing him to drop the rifle. Espada then ran off as Richard groped for the fallen weapon.

In a matter of just a couple of minutes it was over. It was with difficulty that Coop managed to drag himself to his feet and stagger out from behind the boulder and the trees. The blind man found his weapon, raised it and fired a shot not knowing that there was a rock between him and his intended victim. The bullet ricocheted and struck him in the chest much to the horror of his one time friend.

Coop stumbled to his friend's side and raised him up.

 _"Who...shot me?" Richard asked._

 _"Bullet ricocheted against a rock," Coop told the dying man. "I only fired once, Richard - at Espada."_

Gently Coop lowered his friend's body to the ground. With great difficulty, due to pain and dizziness, he got to his feet and went back to Richard's wagon. Espada was nowhere to be seen. Charlie and Barney took one look at Coop's white face and bleeding shoulder before moving toward him and helping him back to the supply wagon.

The wagon train was blessed with the presence of a doctor this trip. The man was summoned to the supply wagon where they put Coop in the bed, the doctor removed the b bullet and bandaged the scout up after cleaning out the wound.

For the next three days Coop slept fitfully racked by pain and memories of Richard Bloodgood's senseless death. When he was finally allowed out of bed his arm was in a sling and he related the whole story of Richard and Janet Rose including the fact that Janet's death had been a tragic accident as had the loss of Richard's eyesight.

When Chris Hale, and Bill Hawks, returned shortly after that the report they got was that one passenger had died.. It had been an accident of his own making. Yes, his family had been notified. He had one friend and that friend had been with him when he died.

"He died as I held him, Ma," Coop finished finally allowing the unshed tears to fall.

He and Richard had been such good friends that it still hurt, all these months later, to know that his blood brother had hated him for the death of Janet Rose which had been another tragic accident. But Richard had been blinded by his feelings for the girl and blinded when Coop hit him. He allowed his so-called grief to override his common sense.

Coop sobbed in his mother's arms for five minutes before the storm of grief passed. Brianna let him cry himself out, rocking gently until he calmed down.

"You look tired. You've had a lung trip and a terrible time of it with the train this year," Brianna said to her son. "Your room is ready so go on up to bed. You can see your father in the morning. He won't be back for a while yet."

Coop gave his mother one last hug and a kiss on the cheek before doing her bidding.

"Night Ma. Thanks for everything."

Two hours after his son had gone to bed Daniel Smith returned. His wife quickly filled him in on everything Coop had said. There were no secrets between them or their only surviving son. Daniel was more understanding than his son gave him credit for. Not a disparaging word passed from his lips about Richard Bloodgood from that night on. He knew his son had held that friendship close to his heart for many years. Who was he to criticize now that the man was dead?

Everyone was awake at first light. Coop followed his nose to the kitchen after cleaning up and shaving. He found his father sitting at the table filling his plate with ham, eggs and biscuits

"Morning Pa," Coop said as he entered the kitchen and took a seat at the table while his mother poured coffee for them all.

"Morning Coop. How was your trip this year?"

"Business as usual. We got the train through without a whole lot of trouble. Like I told Ma, some trading, some evasion ...everything worked out all right."

"Good. And you stayed healthy? Chris Hale and all the others too?"

"Pretty much so." Coop filled his plate and buttered his biscuits before taking a big bite of ham followed by some egg and about half of one of the biscuit halves.

:Cooper Smith! Where are your manners?" Brianna scolded her son. "Take smaller bites! You'll choke yourself!"

Coop took a minute to wipe his mouth trying to hide the grin his father knew was coming.

"Sorry Ma. I'm just starved for your cooking."

"From the looks of you you're just plain starved," his mother told him.

"You try eating Charlie Wooster's cooking for six months. You'd be starving too!" Coop protested.

The banter went back and forth for an hour as they ate their first meal together in seven months. When they were through Coop insisted on helping his mother with the dishes before he went out. He had some Christmas shopping to do and some gifts that he needed to pick up that he had arranged to have shipped to the town nearest their place.

That afternoon he, and his father went to find a tree. They didn't have any evergreens or pines. No spruce either but a juniper was just as good and the house would smell nice when they brought it in and some extra greenery to put in the window sills. His mother would put the final touches of ribbon and candles on and they would decorate the tree together just as they had always done when Jeff was still living.

The next few days found Coop wandering the area visiting old friends but most importantly visiting the family burial ground where his brother had been laid to rest.

"Well, little brother," he said as he stood by Jeff's grave. "Another Christmas is here and I"m home but you're gone. It's still Christmas but it's not the same as it was when you were here. Ma and Pa miss you as much as I do. Sure wish you were here to enjoy it with us."

He stayed by the grave for about fifteen minutes then walked through to lay flowers on the graves of their great-grandparents and all the younger siblings that had been born and died in between him and Jeff and after Jeff had been born. He didn't remember them very well but he felt it necessary to honor their memories for his parents' sake.

Christmas Day dawned clear and cold. His grandparents, six aunts with their husbands and assorted children, eight uncles and their wives and kids plus half a dozen or so adult cousins descended upon them bearing gifts and food. The Smiths were a fairly large family what with Brianna's four sisters and brothers and Daniel's family.

It was a noisy, crowded, excited time and Coop reveled in every minute of it. His grandparents were getting old now. Both were in their eighties. He wanted to enjoy their company as long as he could.

He received so many hugs and kisses that it was almost embarrassing. The kids were overly excited and got underfoot. Still, he wouldn't trade this for a dull day on the trail any day. He reveled in it as much as he did the occasional solitude of scouting.

He'd gotten a shirts, a new muffler, new gloves to replace the ones he had worn out over the spring and summer. A box full of cookies from one of his aunts just for him along with some fudge. A photograph of his parents and one of his grandparents that he could carry in his wallet. He even got a new wallet.

The smell of woodsmoke from the fireplace, his mothers' cooking, the juniper Christmas tree and the boughs in the windows, as well as the scent of the candles, filled the air as he dozed on the couch later, after everyone was gone.

But the best gift he got - that he could ever get - was the restoration of his friendship with the wagon train's cook Charlie Wooster.


End file.
